Rock Paper Scissors

Learning and Development Roundtable: Mindset - The number one skill you didn’t know you needed (seriously)
2023-03-16 10:00 - 11:30 (Europe/Moscow)
“After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea.”
Do you know what it is?
It’s the power of your mindset. How you think about yourself, your skills, your abilities, etc. have a shockingly huge impact on pretty much everything – your success at work, at school, in the arts, in sports, even in dating, and mental health.
Whether you tend to have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset makes all the difference.
Now you may be saying to yourself, “But Lee-Anne, we’re born with a particular mindset and it can’t be changed.” That’s simply not the case. (And funnily enough, that’s an example of the unhelpful, fixed mindset.)
Not only is it pretty darn simple to change your mindset, you can maintain your growth mindset and use it to “foster outstanding accomplishment.” Source: Mindset: the new psychology of success, how we can learn to fulfill our potential.
Sound too good to be true? I promise you it’s not.
In my thirty-plus year career in Learning and Development, I put the concept of mindset up there in my top five learnings in my life. That’s how critical it is, not to mention helpful.
In this free workshop on March 16th, with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

Uncover what exactly mindset means, including what it means to have a fixed mindset and a growth mindset
Be shocked to discover the implications of your mindset on how you deal with failure, how you view effort, and more
Figure out how to identify your own mindset, whether it’s more fixed or growth
Learn four steps for getting a growth mindset
Put everything together and learn how to maintain your newfound growth mindset
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP using this link by March 14th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

7 – 8:30 am London
8 – 9:30 am Paris and Geneva
9 – 10:30 am Beirut
10 – 11:30 am Nairobi, Amman, and Mogadishu
11 am to 12:30 pm Abu Dhabi
12:45 – 2:15 pm Kathmandu
3 – 4:30 pm Manila
4 – 5:30 pm Fukuoka

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above and to double-check the times as they can sometimes change due to daylight savings times.
If you’ve just realized with dread that the time is untenable for you this month, don’t worry, as long as you’re a Learning and Development Roundtable member (membership is free) you’ll get access to the audio and (timestamped) video recordings, workbook and more.
Take action now –>

Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources.
RSVP by March 14th
Share this workshop information with a friend and/or colleague and participate together. The more the merrier.
Add the rest of the 2023 dates to your calendar:

April 27
May 25
June 15
September 21
October 26
November 16

Learning and Development Roundtable - Six skills to help you manage change
2023-02-16 17:00 - 18:30
You’ve made your new year’s resolutions, you’ve been back at work for a month or so now and everything is ticking along smoothly. You’re future’s so bright you’ve got to wear shades. Overwhelming, exhaustion, and juggling 100 plates in the air simultaneously are all things of the past.
Am I right?
“No! That’s not the case!” you scream into the void with consternation.
Instead, you’ve come back to work with new spinning plates, new things to do, new team members, new tech, maybe some new health issues etc., etc.
First off, take a breath. You’re not alone and you’re not going mad. And a side note; getting more productive and efficient can only take us so far. Increasing your productivity is not THE answer.
Some estimates of the pace of change “suggest that we will see 20,000 years of change in the next century alone. “ Enter a facepalm here.
What’s worse, we haven’t “truly internalized the implications of the fact that the rate of change itself is accelerating.” Source
So what’s a weary one to do faced with all of these ever-increasing, monumental, accelerating changes? Why come to this Learning and Development Roundtable of course, where I’ll teach you six skills to help you manage change? #sufferingisoptional #Ipromise
In this free workshop on February 16th, with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

Discover two easy, insightful methods for figuring out the best way to focus on change
Put your detective hat on to identify different types of change
Figure out your ( your team, your partner, and/or your colleagues’) change personality (yes that’s a thing) and how knowing it will help you forever more
Find out your RQ, why it’s integral to managing change, and easy ways to increase it
Get out of your own way moving forward with change using two effective tools which will surprise you with their usefulness and simplicity
Come away with a customized, personalized change action plan. In fact, bring an example of something you’re trying to change or a change that you’re being affected by so you can work your new-found six skills on it.
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP using this link by February 14th (your Valentine’s day gift to yourself). Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

6-7:30 am Vancouver
8-9:30 am Mexico
9 am- 10:30 am Montreal, New York
11 am-12:30 pm Rio
2-3:30 pm London
3-4:30 pm Paris, Geneva
5-6.30 pm Nairobi, Beirut, Amman, Mogadishu
6-7.30 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above and to double-check the times as they can sometimes change due to daylight savings times.
If you’ve just realized with dread that the time is untenable for you this month, don’t worry, as long as you’re a Learning and Development Roundtable member (membership is free) you’ll get access to the audio and (timestamped) video recordings, workbook and more.
Take action now –>

Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources.
RSVP by February 14th
Share this workshop information with a friend and/or colleague and participate together. The more the merrier.
Add the rest of the 2023 dates to your calendar:

March 16
April 27
May 25
June 15
September 21
October 26
November 16

Learning and Development Roundtable- Design a customized learning plan for 2023 that fits you and your team to a T and increases your ROI
2023-01-26 10:00 - 12:00
Information is flowing faster than ever. We are walking and talking faster than a decade ago. We’re inundated with platforms, blogs, websites, tweets, LinkedIn posts, Youtube videos, online courses etc., etc. But who has time for learning?

The better question is ‘who doesn’t have time for that all-important, strategic, let’s-get-to-the-bottom-of-pressing-social-problems learning’? Learning is key to your professional and personal success and carving out time for a brief workshop (that’d be this one) to help you craft a customized learning plan for you and/or your team will not only save you tons of time but make your time more meaningful and make you more likely to reach your goals.

Learning plans help you bridge between where you are now and where you want to get to.
Learning plans help you be deliberate about learning; “Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. ―Abigail Adams
Learning plans help you to be proactive about learning; “In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges, and the foolish build dams. ~ Nigerian proverb
Learning plans help you put learning in context: “Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand.” ~ Guinean proverb
Suffering is optional. In this fun, interactive workshop you’ll learn a Simple (with a capital S) system for identifying your learning needs, how to meet those needs, and all in a way that fits you, your goals, your capacity, and how you learn.

In this free workshop with me, Lee-Anne Ragan you’ll learn:

What a learning plan is and why it’s so important that you and/or your team have one
How to use my simple, interactive worksheet to create a customized learning plan for yourself and/or your team
Why the letter I plays a huge role in your learning plan
How to use my S.A.K.E.s© tool to streamline the process
How to make the learning fit you instead of bending yourself into a pretzel for learning methods that don’t work for you
How to do all of the above in a fun, interactive way (Hint: the Pink Panther just may make an appearance and there might be a friendly small group competition with a prize)
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP by January 24th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

7 am to 9 am London
8 am to 10 am Paris and Geneva
9 am to 11 am Beirut
10 am to noon Nairobi, Amman and Mogadishu
12:45 – 2:45 pm Kathmandu
11 am to 1 pm Abu Dhabi
3 pm to 5 pm Manila
4 pm to 6 pm Fukuoka

Click here to convert to and confirm your timezone if it’s not listed above.
If you’ve just realized with dread that the time is untenable for you this month, don’t worry, as long as you’re a Learning and Development Roundtable member (membership is free) you’ll get access to the audio and (timestamped) video recordings, workbook and more.
Take action now –>

Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources.
RSVP by January 24th
Share this workshop information with a friend and/or colleague and participate together. The more the merrier.

Learning and Development Roundtable: How to really engage people for lasting listening, light hearted learning, can-do, collaboration and clever creativity
2022-11-17 10:00 - 12:00
I get it. You’ve worked really hard while shedding some blood, sweat, and tears to become the subject matter expert you are. You’ve got important work to do, critical meetings to convene, and key stakeholders to collaborate with. But the very people you want to engage with are:

Skipping your meetings
Zoning out
Ignoring your emails
Not participating
Giving you zero feedback
Engaging in ways that are confusing, unproductive, and/or unhelpful

You’re exasperated, fed up, lost, and overwhelmed.
You’d like to turn things around but it feels like pushing a massive boulder up a huge hill or walking, parched, through the desert … or both.
After all, engagement, when done well, is quite the elixir.
You’d realllllly like some more engagement because engaged staff are more creative, less absent, healthier, more satisfied, more productive, communicate more, and tend to stick around longer. Source: Lumapps.
So let’s get you your fill of that engagement elixir.
In this free workshop on November 17th, with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

Unwrap three filters that can either stop engagement in its tracks or get things back on track
Learn a little neuroscience and discover how and why to avoid the “puff and stuff” trap that everyone falls into, which actually works against engagement
Uncover the simple, surprising engagement superpower that’s hiding right under your nose
Dive into the science of motivation, using six ways to increase engagement
Learn three simple engagement tech tools each to boost collaboration, enhance learning, and amp up creativity
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff) (but know that you don’t have to be a UN staff to attend, any and all are welcome)

RSVP using this link by November 15th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

7-9 am London
8-10 am Paris/Rome
9-11 am Beirut
10 am-noon Nairobi
11 am-1 pm Abu Dhabi
4-6 pm Fukuoka
12:45-2:45 pm Kathmandu
3-5 pm Manila
4-6 pm Fukuoka

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above and to double-check the times as they can sometimes change due to daylight savings times.
If you’ve just realized with dread that the time is untenable for you this month, don’t worry, as long as you’re a Learning and Development Roundtable member (membership is free) you’ll get access to the audio and (timestamped) video recordings, workbook and more.
Take action now –> Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources (including time-stamped recordings in case you can’t make it in real-time). And don’t forget to RSVP for this roundtable by November 15.

Tips and tools to increase your work-life balance during Covid and beyond (offered through UNON STDU)
2022-11-16 09:00 - 11:00, 2022-11-15 09:00 - 11:00, 2022-11-02 09:00 - 11:00, 2022-11-01 09:00 - 11:00
The global pandemic continues. We’ve undergone a tremendous shift in the past year – striving to juggle working from home with family and personal life. And all the while learning the technology to make that happen.

The learning curve has never been so steep.

Our stress levels, anxiety, and fear have risen to all-time highs while our certainty and access to regular routines have plummeted. Our boundaries have changed and become fuzzy. And talk about the ‘new normal’ is rife – yet who can even remember the old ‘normal’?

While we’re all in this together, our situations vary wildly, which makes it even harder to relate to each other. Some of us are trying to work while little ones, with sticky fingers, cling to us, begging for mommy/daddy time, while we look longingly to those who have quiet, uninterrupted spaces to work.

And yet those of us who have quiet, interrupted time suffer from deep loneliness and lack of connection, as their parents, friends, and children can be counties or countries away.

Meanwhile, throughout these challenges, we’re told to look for “balance” in our home and work life. It’s enough to make us dizzy with confusion, trepidation, hopelessness, and more stress.

Fear not. There is hope.

We’ve come a long way in learning how to navigate the challenges of working from home. Let’s build on all the things you’ve learned in the past year and add to your toolkit so you’re healthier, more relaxed, less stressed, and more resilient.

Here’s how.

Join me for a two-part interactive workshop where I’ll introduce you to a myriad of simple tools to add to your toolkit. The workshops will be very practical, so you can get going on your continued way to wellness ASAP.

Contact UNON-HR to register (for UN staff only but contact me if you’d like to chat about having a similar workshop for your organization).

Delivery: The course is divided into five sections →

Self-facilitated: There will be a couple of short tasks to complete before we meet together online (estimated time: 15 minutes)
Facilitated by the instructor: A two-hour in-real-time workshop
Self-facilitated: To help you apply what you’re learning there will be a few more tasks for you to complete on your own time before we meet again (approximate time investment: 30 minutes)
Facilitated by the instructor: A two-hour in-real-time workshop
Self-facilitated: Again, to help you use what you’ve learned, you’ll have a couple more tasks to complete on your own time, (approximate time investment: 15 minutes)

Total learning time with the instructor: 4 hours

In this workshop with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

Put the elusive myth of work-life balance to bed for good and replace it with a healthier, more realistic, and practical outlook.
Amp up your empathy for others by understanding the context of Covid and how it’s affecting us differently (you’ll be introduced to some real-life Covid “characters”).
Know thyself with four tools designed to uncover how you’re currently dealing with work-life balance and how you can create more relaxation and balance, and less fear and anxiety.
Take action with four skills designed to decrease your stress and increase your wellness – practical examples, from bookends, keeping up, and speaking up to simple, easy (and slightly weird but backed by research) tips to combat stress instantly.
Learn how to diagnose your specific situation by using my more than, less than, and equal to tool.
Map three types of stressors and where you’re at with your ‘buckets’, in order to create a customized work-life balance plan that fits you.
Come away feeling inspired, hopeful, and with an online resource portal full of tips, tools, and more.

How to effectively teach and present online while being cool, calm and engaging (offered through UNON STDU)
2022-11-16 09:00 - 11:00
Wondering what a roller coaster, raccoon, vacuum cleaner, and elephant have to do with effectively teaching/presenting online? Keep reading.

Lectures that drone on and on. Overwhelming unread notifications of online events. Workshops that are drier than the Sahara desert and more boring than watching paint dry. We’ve all been there.

Online meetings, courses, workshops, check-ins are never-ending. Some research shows we are spending up to 16 hours a day on digital media! Globally, we doubled our online content consumption in 2020.

We are bored, exhausted and we’re struggling. Mental health challenges are up in most countries and yet mental health service provision is down.

There is hope, however.

Notwithstanding the tremendous costs of the global pandemic, there are hidden benefits to Covid and all that time online. Help is in sight. Teaching and presenting online CAN (and should) be engaging, interesting, and impactful. We can make a difference. We can use tools to help us engage with dignity, inclusion, and impact. And we can do all that without inducing suffering in ourselves or those we’re working with.

Here’s how.

Join me for a series of fun, interactive workshops where I’ll introduce you to a helpful framework and success signposts to aim for on your online journey. The workshops will be very practical. I’ll demonstrate a number of interesting yet simple tools and techniques that you can use right away.

Contact UNON-HR to register (for UN staff only but contact me if you’d like to chat about having a similar workshop for your organization).

Delivery: The course is divided into five sections →

Self-facilitated: Learning activities you’ll complete online, on your own time, before we gather in real-time (approximate time investment: 90 minutes)
Facilitated by the instructor: A two-hour in-real-time workshop
Self-facilitated: Learning activities you’ll complete online, on your own time, before we meet again (approximate time investment: 90 minutes)
Facilitated by the instructor: A two-hour in-real-time workshop
Self-facilitated: Learning activities you’ll complete online, on your own time, (approximate time investment: 90 minutes)

Total learning time: 8 ½ hours

In this workshop with the instructor, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

Discover eight success signposts for your online teaching/presenting
Uncover two opportunities hiding in plain sight for increasing engagement
Learn the abysmal retention rates for the dreaded lecture and three easy things to replace them with that scale engagement and retention
Understand your preference in teaching/presenting and how to be more engaging by using the S.A.K.E.© tool
Uncover the seven deadly sins of online presenting/teaching so you know what NOT to do
Discover your tech personality, what a raccoon, vacuum cleaner roller coaster, elephant have to do with it and why it’s important to know all this
Get a chance to practice teaching/presenting online and receive supportive feedback
Have fun experimenting with 16 tools for online presenting/teaching that include tools for managing information, collaborating/sharing online, managing learning, and teaching/presenting
Come away feeling inspired, hopeful and with an online resource portal full of tips, tools, worksheets, surveys, and more.

How to effectively teach and present online while being cool, calm and engaging (offered through UNON STDU)
2022-11-15 09:00 - 11:00, 2022-09-14 15:00 - 17:00, 2022-09-13 15:00 - 17:00, 2022-05-12 09:00 - 11:00
Wondering what a roller coaster, raccoon, vacuum cleaner, and elephant have to do with effectively teaching/presenting online? Keep reading.

Lectures that drone on and on. Overwhelming unread notifications of online events. Workshops that are drier than the Sahara desert and more boring than watching paint dry. We’ve all been there.

Online meetings, courses, workshops, check-ins are never-ending. Some research shows we are spending up to 16 hours a day on digital media! Globally, we doubled our online content consumption in 2020.

We are bored, exhausted and we’re struggling. Mental health challenges are up in most countries and yet mental health service provision is down.

There is hope, however.

Notwithstanding the tremendous costs of the global pandemic, there are hidden benefits to Covid and all that time online. Help is in sight. Teaching and presenting online CAN (and should) be engaging, interesting, and impactful. We can make a difference. We can use tools to help us engage with dignity, inclusion, and impact. And we can do all that without inducing suffering in ourselves or those we’re working with.

Here’s how.

Join me for a series of fun, interactive workshops where I’ll introduce you to a helpful framework and success signposts to aim for on your online journey. The workshops will be very practical. I’ll demonstrate a number of interesting yet simple tools and techniques that you can use right away.

Contact UNON-HR to register (for UN staff only but contact me if you’d like to chat about having a similar workshop for your organization).

Delivery: The course is divided into five sections →

Self-facilitated: Learning activities you’ll complete online, on your own time, before we gather in real-time (approximate time investment: 90 minutes)
Facilitated by the instructor: A two-hour in-real-time workshop
Self-facilitated: Learning activities you’ll complete online, on your own time, before we meet again (approximate time investment: 90 minutes)
Facilitated by the instructor: A two-hour in-real-time workshop
Self-facilitated: Learning activities you’ll complete online, on your own time, (approximate time investment: 90 minutes)

Total learning time: 8 ½ hours

In this workshop with the instructor, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

Discover eight success signposts for your online teaching/presenting
Uncover two opportunities hiding in plain sight for increasing engagement
Learn the abysmal retention rates for the dreaded lecture and three easy things to replace them with that scale engagement and retention
Understand your preference in teaching/presenting and how to be more engaging by using the S.A.K.E.© tool
Uncover the seven deadly sins of online presenting/teaching so you know what NOT to do
Discover your tech personality, what a raccoon, vacuum cleaner roller coaster, elephant have to do with it and why it’s important to know all this
Get a chance to practice teaching/presenting online and receive supportive feedback
Have fun experimenting with 16 tools for online presenting/teaching that include tools for managing information, collaborating/sharing online, managing learning, and teaching/presenting
Come away feeling inspired, hopeful and with an online resource portal full of tips, tools, worksheets, surveys, and more

Learning and Development Roundtable: Resolve conflict with confidence and clarity using these simple six skills
2022-10-20 17:00 - 19:00
When I say the word ‘conflict’ what comes to your mind? Stress, anxiety, avoid at all costs, frustration, fear?

It’s no wonder.

The frequency of conflict in the workplace is shocking:

85% of employees experience some kind of conflict
29% of employees nearly constantly experience conflict
12% of employees say they often see conflict within the senior team
49% of workplace conflict happens as a result of personality clashes and egos
34% of workplace conflict is a result of workplace stress
33% of workplace conflict is a result of heavy workloads
27% of employees have seen personal attacks arise from conflicts
25% of employees have witnessed absence or sickness due to conflict
9% of employees have seen projects fail because of workplace conflict (Source: CPP)

Conflict affects our mental health, our motivation, our energy levels, wellness, ability to function etc.

And for our organizations, conflict affects the ability to retain great employees, amount of sick leave, quality and amount of work getting done and on time, productivity, workplace culture and organizational reputations.

It’s enough to make us want to hide out in a cave with no human contact (at least until we recoup and regroup).

It’s not surprising. I’d wager a bet (and I’m not even a betting person) that you likely didn’t learn how to resolve conflict – at home, in school or on the job. It’s something that we’re just supposed to magically know how to do, even when our pulses are racing, our throats are dry and we’re spending every precious moment trying not to throw up with anxiety when we’re in the middle of a difficult conflict.

There is good news, however. Conflict resolution is a series of practical, helpful, simple skills that can be learned. Truly, honestly, really.

In this free workshop on October 20th, with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

Discover three skills that you can personally use anytime and anywhere for any conflict including:

Two A’s and 3 F’s that will raise your confidence and your con res abilities
Key quadrants, cones, and continuums that give you xray con res vision, and
How to instantly lower your strongly felt emotions on the spot so you can keep a clear, calm head

Uncover three skills you can use with the person you’re engaged in a conflict with including:

My above or below tool that will surprise you and give you much-needed con res insight
Learning how to massage almonds (that’s not a typo) which will help you move forward in even the trickiest of conflict situations and
One of the easiest most overlooked skills

Come away with a personalized action plan using my S.A.K.E. tool
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP using this link by October 18th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.

Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

7-9 am Vancouver
9-11 am Mexico
10 am-noon Montreal/New York
11 am-1 pm Rio
5-7 pm Nairobi/Beirut
6-8 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above and to double-check the times as they can sometimes change due to daylight savings times.

If you’ve just realized with dread that the time is untenable for you this month, don’t worry, as long as you’re a Learning and Development Roundtable member (membership is free) you’ll get access to the audio and (timestamped) video recordings, workbook and more.

Take action now –> Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources (including time-stamped recordings in case you can’t make it in real-time). And don’t forget to RSVP for this roundtable by October 18th.

Learning and Development Roundtable: Communicate better, resolve conflict easier and lessen misunderstandings with Life Lenses®
2022-09-15 10:00 - 12:00
Do you sometimes feel like you’re speaking a language nobody gets but you, and you DESPERATELY wish you could communicate more clearly and be understood?
Do you hate conflict, and yet somehow find yourself navigating a bunch of misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and confusion?
How about this – do you feel like you’re having to constantly decipher the people around you? Best case, it’s tiring. Worst case, it feels like people are trying to provoke you with all the daft, dumb things they’re doing.

We’ve got a lot of things coming at us, so naturally — and quite rightly — we filter LOTS of things out.

But what if you’re also filtering out too much of the stuff that actually matters? What if all of that unconscious filtering is the very reason you so often feel stuck, lost, misunderstood. As if everyone around you is speaking Greek.

The consequences are huge; we miss out on the insights, and experiences that can enrich our lives. We miss out on the things that can help us reduce conflict, lessen disagreements, parent with ease, create far better products, services, programs…

Here’s the thing: Great minds DON’T think alike.

Only we’ve been sucked into the idea that they do.

But there is a way to shift your view, to address your biases (we all have ‘em), and to benefit from other perspectives:

Learn to look at life through different lenses – the Life Lenses® that is..

In this free workshop on September 15th, with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

Discover the eight Life Lenses® and which ones appeal to you the most
Illuminate your ‘natural’ perspectives – and see where you shine when it comes to conflict, communication, teambuilding, project management and more
Uncover how you can communicate with lenses that are different from yours (and why that’s so important)
Learn how to avoid the very natural and very strong temptation to stick to your own lenses
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff) (but know that you don’t have to be a UN staff to attend, any and all are welcome)

RSVP using this link by September 13th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

8-10 am London
9-11 am Paris/Rome
10 am-noon Nairobi/Beirut
11 am-1 pm Abu Dhabi
12:45-2:45 pm Katmandu
3-5 pm Manila
4-6 pm Fukuoka

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above and to double-check the times as they can sometimes change due to daylight savings times.

Take action now –> Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources (including time-stamped recordings in case you can’t make it in real time). And don’t forget to RSVP for this roundtable by September 13.

Optional: if you wish, find out more about Life Lenses® here and get the most out of this workshop then get to know your Life Lenses® in detail and take the assessment here.

Tips and tools to increase your work-life balance during Covid (offered through UNON STDU)
2022-09-14 09:00 - 11:00
The global pandemic continues. We’ve undergone a tremendous shift in the past year – striving to juggle working from home with family and personal life. And all the while learning the technology to make that happen.

The learning curve has never been so steep.

Our stress levels, anxiety, and fear have risen to all-time highs while our certainty and access to regular routines have plummeted. Our boundaries have changed and become fuzzy. And talk about the ‘new normal’ is rife – yet who can even remember the old ‘normal’?

While we’re all in this together, our situations vary wildly, which makes it even harder to relate to each other. Some of us are trying to work while little ones, with sticky fingers, cling to us, begging for mommy/daddy time, while we look longingly to those who have quiet, uninterrupted spaces to work.

And yet those of us who have quiet, interrupted time suffer from deep loneliness and lack of connection, as their parents, friends, and children can be counties or countries away.

Meanwhile, throughout these challenges, we’re told to look for “balance” in our home and work life. It’s enough to make us dizzy with confusion, trepidation, hopelessness, and more stress.

Fear not. There is hope.

We’ve come a long way in learning how to navigate the challenges of working from home. Let’s build on all the things you’ve learned in the past year and add to your toolkit so you’re healthier, more relaxed, less stressed, and more resilient.

Here’s how.

Join me for a two-part interactive workshop where I’ll introduce you to a myriad of simple tools to add to your toolkit. The workshops will be very practical, so you can get going on your continued way to wellness ASAP.

Contact UNON-HR to register (for UN staff only but contact me if you’d like to chat about having a similar workshop for your organization).

Delivery: The course is divided into five sections →

Self-facilitated: There will be a couple of short tasks to complete before we meet together online (estimated time: 15 minutes)
Facilitated by the instructor: A two-hour in-real-time workshop
Self-facilitated: To help you apply what you’re learning there will be a few more tasks for you to complete on your own time before we meet again (approximate time investment: 30 minutes)
Facilitated by the instonofeructor: A two-hour in-real-time workshop
Self-facilitated: Again, to help you use what you’ve learned, you’ll have a couple more tasks to complete on your own time, (approximate time investment: 15 minutes)

Total learning time with the instructor: 4 hours

In this workshop with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

Put the elusive myth of work-life balance to bed for good and replace it with a healthier, more realistic, and practical outlook.
Amp up your empathy for others by understanding the context of Covid and how it’s affecting us differently (you’ll be introduced to some real-life Covid “characters”).
Know thyself with four tools designed to uncover how you’re currently dealing with work-life balance and how you can create more relaxation and balance, and less fear and anxiety.
Take action with four skills designed to decrease your stress and increase your wellness – practical examples, from bookends, keeping up, and speaking up to simple, easy (and slightly weird but backed by research) tips to combat stress instantly.
Learn how to diagnose your specific situation by using my more than, less than, and equal to tool.
Map three types of stressors and where you’re at with your ‘buckets’, in order to create a customized work-life balance plan that fits you.
Come away feeling inspired, hopeful, and with an online resource portal full of tips, tools, and more.

Tips and tools to increase your work-life balance during Covid (offered through UNON STDU)
2022-09-13 09:00 - 11:00, 2022-05-12 15:00 - 17:00

Learning and Development Roundtable: Tips and tools to increase your work-life balance during Covid and beyond
2022-08-18 17:00 - 19:00
We’ve undergone tremendous changes in the past couple of years. The learning curve has never been so steep.

Our stress levels, anxiety and fear have risen to all time highs while our certainty and access to regular routines have plummeted. Our boundaries have changed and become fuzzy. And talk about the ‘new normal’ is rife – yet who can even remember the old ‘normal’?

While we’re all in this together, our situations vary wildly, which makes it even harder to relate to each other. Meanwhile, throughout these challenges we’re told to look for “balance” in our home and work life. It’s enough to make us dizzy with confusion, trepidation, hopelessness and more stress.

Fear not. There is hope.

We’ve come a long way in learning how to navigate the challenges of working from home and hybrid. Let’s build on all the things you’ve learned in the past two years and add to your toolkit so you’re healthier, more relaxed, less stressed and more resilient.

Here’s how.
In this free workshop on August 18th, with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

Put the elusive myth of work-life balance to bed for good and replace it with a healthier, more realistic and practical outlook (please bring a pen, pencil, spoon or fork!)
Come to understand some of the best most recent and cutting edge research when it comes to work-life balance
Know thyself with a simple tool designed to uncover how you’re currently dealing with work-life balance and how you can create more relaxation and balance, and less fear and anxiety.
Take action with one skill designed to decrease your stress and increase your wellness
Map three types of stressors and where you’re at with your ‘buckets’, in order to create a customized work-life balance plan that fits you.
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP using this link by August 16th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

7-9 am Vancouver
9-11 am Mexico
10 am-noon Montreal/New York
11 am-1 pm Rio
5-7 pm Nairobi/Beirut
6-8 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above and to double-check the times as they can sometimes change due to daylight savings times.
If you’ve just realized with dread that the time is untenable for you this month, don’t worry, as long as you’re a Learning and Development Roundtable member (membership is free) you’ll get access to the audio and (timestamped) video recordings, workbook and more.
Take action now –> Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources (including time-stamped recordings in case you can’t make it in real-time). And don’t forget to RSVP for this roundtable by August 16th.

Learning and Development Roundtable: One size doesn’t fit all; six tools for intercultural communication and intercultural conflict resolution
2022-05-26 10:00 - 12:00
Have you ever felt like a cauldron of doom was boiling when it felt like a colleague was speaking to you in Greek, despite your very best effort to understand them? Have you ever felt like a dog chasing its tail trying to get your message across to a so-called difficult staff person? Or perhaps you can remember a time working in a team when things were simply not working and every minor issue felt like climbing Mount Everest.

Communication and conflict resolution skills are central to our success at work and at home but add culture into the mix and you’ve got a real cauldron that can threaten to bubble over.

Culture can be defined as the ‘collective programming of our minds that divides us into groups’ (G Hofstede) and when we realize it includes age, ethnicity, gender, nationality, and more then without our even being aware of it, 99.9% of communication and conflict issues have a cultural root.

Yet we ignore those roots at our peril and tend to keep doing more of whatever it is that’s not working.

The cost of intercultural miscommunication and conflict is high. It can:

Undermine creative thinking
Decreases individuals’ effectiveness at connecting ideas from disparate cultures (source).
Have negative impacts on our stakeholder’s experience
Reduce available talent
Give us and our organization a bad name (source)
Prevent valuable input from being heard
Increase prejudice and stereotyping
Pit individuals, teams, and organizations against one another (source)

As discourse seems to grow more inward-looking and divisive … we must continue to think inclusively and globally (source).

Sounds good right? But how do we do that when resources and time are tight?

In this free workshop on May 26th, with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll learn six skills including:

1. Discovering the surprising way your brain tricks you into making cultural mistakes and how to get around that
2. How to identify your areas of how cultural communication and how to stretch
3. Uncovering your tendency towards magical thinking and what to do about it
4. Learning how to get to certainty by first dancing with uncertainty
5. Discovering how to stay out of the ICU by using my intercultural communication and conflict resolution I.C.U. tool
6. How identifying how you feel about conflict instantly moves you forward in your cultural communication and conflict resolution
You can count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP using this link by May 24th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

8-10 am London
9-11 am Paris/Rome
10 am-noon Nairobi/Beirut
11 am-1 pm Abu Dhabi
12:45-2:45 pm Katmandu
3-5 pm Manila
4-6 pm Fukuoka

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above and to double-check the times as they can sometimes change due to daylight savings times.
Take action now –> Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources (including time-stamped recordings in case you can’t make it in real-time). And don’t forget to RSVP for this roundtable by May 24th. And click the button below to add the event to your calendar.

Learning and Development Roundtable: How to do Hybrid Meetings and Events without Headaches
2022-04-21 17:00 - 19:00
Just when we’ve gotten the hang of online meetings and online events, now we’re being asked to add another new beast to the mix. That beast being hybrid events and hybrid meetings.

A hybrid event/meeting is one where some participants are in a virtual room (such as MS Teams or Zoom) and some are in a physical room, in real life. This can make for feeling left out (when the focus is only on folks in the ‘real’ room), bored and confused. It can also add a huge number of technical challenges and more.

The technical challenges can include hearing too much, like ear-shattering audio feedback, or not enough. How many times have you heard “Amrita, you’re muted – you need to turn on your mic!”?

Hybrid can make the confidence level of even the most assured folks plummet deeper than the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean. And quickly.

Our best-laid hybrid plans and preparations can quickly go sideways. Layered on top of folks feeling generally overwhelmed and exhausted, it’s a perfect storm for cranky, aggravated people. And very unproductive meetings/events.

But believe it or not (and you will believe after this workshop) hybrid can bring our best to the table.

Hold onto your hankies, “a hybrid event model, combining the rich experiences of an in-person event with the reach and convenience of a virtual event, is emerging as the new programming standard” (HBR).

“Almost 50% of corporate event attendees consider hybrid events the ideal format for the future, compared to exclusively in-person or virtual-only events, according to Metrigy Research. Businesses are embracing this new reality. In 2021, 64% of businesses say they’re increasing their virtual events, and 58% say they’re planning for a mix of virtual and in-person events” (HBR).

But how pray-tell, do we get there?

In this free workshop on April 21st, with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

Explore the benefits and challenges of hybrid meetings and events
Unwrap two simple key goals to make every hybrid a success
Learn to distinguish what works and what doesn’t work for hybrid
Explore ten powerful, engaging techniques you can use to take your hybrids to the next level
Come away with a powerful tech tip cheat sheet
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP using this link by April 19th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.

Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

8-10 am Mexico
11 am-1 pm Rio
9-11 am Montreal/New York
5-7 pm Nairobi
6-8 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to double-check your timezone as it can sometimes change due to daylight savings times (be sure to compare your timezone to 5 pm EAT/Nairobi).

Take action now –>
Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources (including time-stamped recordings in case you can’t make it in real-time). And don’t forget to RSVP for this roundtable by April 19th.

Learning and Development Roundtable: How to make online meetings more interactive and effective
2022-03-17 17:00 - 19:00
We’ve all heard the old adage – monkey see, monkey do. While we may have become more familiar with online meetings, it doesn’t mean they’re engaging or effective. There’s way too much monkey see, monkey do -a.k.a. boring, non-interactive, lecture style, exhausting online meetings.

Why are online meetings so bad?

We are suffering from O.F. (online fatigue), even the CEO of Zoom has admitted as much. And it’s no wonder, we are spending 30 billion minutes in online collaboration (which more than doubled in 2021), says John Frank, Vice President for UN Affairs at Microsoft in the UN Digital Executive Series – The Next Normal Webinar.
Online meetings tend to be the same as standing a mere 50 cm away from our colleagues, which is like all being crammed into an elevator and not being able to look away
We tend to make false assumptions, that everyone is in the same boat as us, which causes all sorts of misunderstandings. For example, someone who doesn’t have a specific office space and has little ones underfoot and is therefore reluctant to turn on their camera may be seen as standoffish or uninvolved by her boss who has a large home office, lives alone, and is yearning for human interaction.
Our comfort level with technology is still a challenge. How many times have you said to a colleague ‘you’re muted, please unmute yourself’?
People are working in silos. We’re not sharing information in ways that we used to because we’re not gathering around the water cooler, or bumping into each other informally as we walk to the elevator or grab a coffee.

And yet we continue on, girding our loins and submitting to the online frustrations and overwhelm.

But we can do better. Imagine if you will, that your next online meeting, had your staff more engaged, interacting more, contributing more, and feeling more connected.

It’s within your reach. Seriously.

In this free workshop on March 17th with me, Lee-Anne Ragan you’ll learn:

My secret sauce for getting your staff into the right mindset and actually looking forward to your meetings plus being more willing to engage after the meeting is long over
How to ditch the “monkey see, monkey do” by using my simple template for pointing out your bias in holding your online meetings and how to make them more inclusive and accessible
Several Simple (with a capital S) techniques for increasing engagement will make you look like the rockstar you are
How to take your online meetings to the next level by using F.G.L.A.s
To use some surprisingly easy tech tools that capture attention and get people interacting with nary a group groan (activities that are silly or embarrassing) in sight.
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP by March 15th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.

Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

7-9 am Vancouver
8-10 am Mexico
11 am-1 pm Rio
10-noon Montreal/New York
5-7 pm Nairobi
6-8 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to convert to and confirm your timezone if it’s not listed above. Please double check your time as this time of year it’s a bit confusing with some countries shifting to daylight savings time and some not!

Take action now –>

Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources.
RSVP by March 15th
Share this workshop information with a friend and/or colleague and participate together. The more the merrier.

Learning and Development Roundtable: Free, easy tech tools to make your learning more impactful, easier, engaging and efficient
2022-02-17 17:00 - 19:00
Let’s talk tech tools and learning. Do you recognize any of the following?

You have the best of intentions but you’re struggling to keep up with learning, with professional and/or personal development.
You’re confused about what to learn, when, and how. It’s all just a little much and it’s easier to simply avoid the whole topic.
You keep having bad experiences with learning – e.g, you can’t find the notes you took, you want to share your learning but it’s too time-consuming, inconvenient, etc.
Regardless of your best efforts, you have no time for learning.
Despite putting on a brave face, the whole subject of learning makes you feel disorganized and overwhelmed.
And perhaps most importantly, when you put learning and tech in the same sentence it’s enough to make you want to run screaming at the top of your lungs for the hills.

I get it. Annnnd help is at hand.

Perhaps the only thing every human shares is the same number of hours in a day.

Life is short, so why not use some easy (I promise) tech tools to come to your rescue and be of service and save time.

You’ll free up some precious time to rest (after all productivity is not the only goal) and/or be able to do things that really matter to you.

It’s possible. Here’s how.

In this free workshop on February 17th, with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, you’ll:

Pinpoint six ways that you learn best by using my learning exploration map
Create a custom plan for yourself using your unique ways of learning
Experiment with a bunch of easy tech tools that I’ll demonstrate,
Match the tools to the way you learn
Come away feeling inspired, relaxed, and re-energized with a toolkit full of strategies and tech tools for you to start using right away
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP using this link by February 15th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

8-10 am Mexico
11 am-1 pm Rio
9-11 am Montreal/New York
5-7 pm Nairobi
6-8 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above and to double-check the times as they can sometimes change due to daylight savings times.
Take action now –> Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources (including time-stamped recordings in case you can’t make it in real-time). And don’t forget to RSVP for this roundtable by February 17th.

Learning and Development Roundtable: Design a customized learning plan for 2022 that fits you and your team to a T and increases your ROI
2022-01-21 10:00 - 12:00
Information is flowing faster than ever. We are walking and talking faster than a decade ago. We’re inundated with platforms, blogs, websites, tweets, LinkedIn posts, Youtube videos, online courses etc etc. But who has time for learning?

The better question is ‘who doesn’t have time for that all-important, strategic, let’s-get-to-the-bottom-of-pressing-social-problems learning’? Learning is key to your professional and personal success and carving out time for a brief workshop (that’d be this one) to help you craft a customized learning plan for you and/or your team will not only save you tons of time but make your time more meaningful and make you more likely to reach your goals.

Learning plans help you bridge between where you are now and where you want to get to.

Learning plans help you be deliberate about learning; “Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. ―Abigail Adams

Learning plans help you to be proactive about learning; “In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams. ~ Nigerian proverb

Learning plans help you put learning in context: “Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand.” ~ Guinean proverb

Suffering is optional. In this fun, interactive workshop you’ll learn a Simple (with a capital S) system for identifying your learning needs, how to meet those needs, and all in a way that fits you, your goals, your capacity and how you learn.

In this free workshop with me, Lee-Anne Ragan you’ll learn:

What a learning plan is and why it’s so important that you and/or your team have one
How to use my simple, interactive worksheet to create a customized learning plan for yourself and/or your team
Why the letter I plays a huge role in your learning plan
How to use S.A.K.E.s© to streamline the process
How to make the learning fit you instead of bending yourself into a pretzel for learning methods that don’t work for you
How to do all of the above in a fun, interactive way (Hint: the Pink Panther just may make an appearance and there might be a friendly small group competition with a prize)
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP by January 19th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

7 am to 9 am London
10 am to noon Nairobi
4 pm to 6 pm Fukuoka
11 am to 1 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to convert to and confirm your timezone if it’s not listed above.
Take action now –>

Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources.
RSVP by January 19th
Share this workshop information with a friend and/or colleague and participate together. The more the merrier.

Learning and Development Roundtable: Ten Easy Peasy Tech Tools to Save Your Sanity
2021-11-19 10:00 - 12:00
Tech tools. Do you cringe in fear, overwhelm and/or exhaustion from trying to keep up, when you hear the words tech tools?

You’re not alone.

It’s no surprise we’re overwhelmed.

“Constant frustration with bad tech experiences affects how staffers handle their daily workloads, especially younger workers. Gen Z and Millennial test subjects saw a whopping 30% drop in their productivity as a result” (Daily Sabah).
Folks in the US spend 4.1 hours per day checking work email and 3.3 hours a day checking personal email, while European office workers spend more than one-third of their waking hours managing work and personal email (Thrive Global).
The average office worker is interrupted every 11 minutes by emails, phone calls, and more. And it takes longer than 20 minutes to get back into a groove after we’re interrupted (Thrive Global).

“About one-third of consumers report feeling overwhelmed by tech management during COVID-19” (2021 Connectivity and Mobile Trends Survey).

And we’re having a hard time adapting.

“The rapid proliferation of new technologies could overwhelm the capacity of policymakers and societies to adapt to them” (Technology and Innovation Report, Harnessing Frontier Technologies for Sustainable Development, 2018, UNCTAD).

So what’s a beleaguered human to do?

The answer is at your fingertips …. your computer and your keyboard.

Take control by harnessing the power of tech tools to bring you more ease, efficiency, and comfort, while decreasing overwhelm, and frustration.

Afterall, no matter where you are in the world, technology is not going away. For example, shockingly, “more people in Kenya and in sub-Saharan Africa have access to a mobile phone than they do clean running water” (NPR TedTalk, Shoham Arad: Ideas Into Action).

In this free workshop with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, on November 19th, you’ll:

Rewrite Einstein’s theory of relativity to identify and prioritize your tech pain points so you can get on top of them
Uncover an important caveat that will help you forever more in your tech journey
Learn the five sanity saver tech tools I use multiple times every day to save me time and bring me ease and efficiency
Uncover five more sanity saver tech tools I regularly use that you need to add to your toolkit to keep saving your sanity and get on top of tech
Come away feeling inspired, relaxed and re-energized with a toolkit full of strategies and tools for you to implement
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP by November 17th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

7 am to 9 am London
10 am to noon Nairobi
4 pm to 6 pm Fukuoka
11 am to 1 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to convert to and confirm your timezone if it’s not listed above.
Take action now –>

Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources.
RSVP by November 17th

Share this workshop information with a friend and/or colleague and participate together. The more the merrier.

Learning and Development Roundtable: Getting the knack of negotiation with six skills for nuanced negotiating
2021-10-21 17:00 - 19:00
Let’s talk conflict and money.
Have you ever paused to think about the cost of conflict in the workplace, both to you and your organization? What if I told you it was £28.5 billion in the UK alone. This represents an “average of just over £1,000 for every employee in the UK each year, and just under £3,000 annually for each individual involved in conflict.” (Pollack Peacebuilding Systems, 2021).

“Employees in United States companies spend approximately 2.8 hours each week involved in conflict. This amounts to around $359 billion in hours paid that are filled with – and focused on – conflict instead of on positive productivity.” (Pollack Peacebuilding Systems, 2021)

For individuals, unresolved conflict in the workplace can lead to an increase in stress, anxiety, depression, sick days, and decreased productivity, disengagement, and motivation.

For organizations, the cost is huge including an unhealthy organizational culture, staff resignations and the cost and time to replace them, project fails and ‘presenteeism.’ Presenteeism, the practice of being present at one’s place of work for more hours than is required, especially as a manifestation of insecurity about one’s job (Oxford dictionary) “has a negative impact on productivity with an annual cost estimated between £590 million and £2.3 billion in the U.K. (Pollack Peacebuilding Systems, 2021).

That’s a whole lot of strife, teeth-gnashing, and sometimes even terror.
And yet, when faced with a conflict, many of us do MORE (yes more) of what’s NOT working.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Add some negotiation skills to your conflict resolution toolkit and you’ll be on your way to more confidence, less conflict, and more calm.

In this free workshop with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, on October 21st, you’ll:

Learn how to get the best of your nerves and do a simple climate analysis the next time you’re needing to negotiate a conflict
Learn six simple negotiation skills including what the two most important questions to ask are
Unlock various types of power plus the power of questions, including some ‘wicked’ ones
Diagnose the conflict in a snap using a simple matrix
Map your way to success using a simple mapping tool
Come away feeling inspired, relaxed, and re-energized with a toolkit full of strategies and tools for you to implement
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP by October 19th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

8-10 am Mexico
11 am-1 pm Rio
9-11 am Montreal/New York
5-7 pm Nairobi
6-8 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above and to double-check the times as they can sometimes change due to daylight savings times.
Take action now –> Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources (including recordings of the Learning and Development Roundtables in case you can’t make it). And RSVP for this one by October 19th.

Learning and Development Roundtable: Eight skills for communicating with confidence and clarity and without consternation
2021-09-24 10:00 - 12:00
They say hard skills (a.k.a. technical skills) get you hired but lack of so-called soft skills, like communication, can get you fired. Add to that our weariness and overwhelm with the ongoing global pandemic and raging world wide conflicts, it’s enough to dampen the motivation of even the hardiest souls.

Being able to communicate with confidence and clarity is critical yet we often leave improving our communication skills as a distant priority. And to make matters worse our communication skills are tanking when taking time to learn and reflect are pushed aside for ever greater productivity. And all while we need them the most to navigate complex situations, workplaces and scenarios..

How do you know if your communication skills need sharpening?

You may need to amp up your communication skills if any of the following are true for you:

You find yourself getting dizzy going round and round in circles with the same darn issue
You’re sure you’re communicating clearly but people often misinterpret what you mean
You’re able to communicate well with some people but not others (you suspect it may have to do with your communication style)
You’re exhausted trying to communicate with some folks, the effort leaves you drained and frustrated
You’re working too hard on your communication skills but not seeing results

I’ll let you in on a little secret. When our communication isn’t working, most people tend to do more of what isn’t working. That’s right. More of what’s NOT working.

Instead, let’s welcome some communication ease for you with these eight critical communication skills (that surprisingly, aren’t that hard to learn).

Come to this engaging, interactive workshop and learn eight skills for communicating with confidence and clarity.

In this free workshop with me, Lee-Anne Ragan, on September 24th, you’ll:

Be introduced to your F.A.V. C.O.M.I.C – a potent combination of eight simple communication skills
Diagnose your communication skills so you know where you shine and where you need to shine some light on learning
Get a chance to practice in a fun, light-hearted manner
Come away feeling inspired, relaxed, and re-energized with a toolkit full of strategies and tools for you to implement
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP by September 22nd. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

7 am to 9 am London
10 am to noon Nairobi
4 pm to 6 pm Fukuoka
11 am to 1 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above.
Take action now –>

Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources.
RSVP by September 22nd

Share this workshop information with a friend and/or colleague and participate together. The more the merrier.

Learning and Development Roundtable: Top tips for online facilitating and public speaking
2021-08-19 17:00 - 19:00
Quick! Can you recall a recent online meeting or workshop that was interesting, engaging, and had a powerful effect? Nope? I thought so.

Online meetings and workshops have two things in common – the need to speak publicly and the need to facilitate or teach. And both of those skills can be in woefully short supply.

Add to that, the fear of public speaking is the most common phobia ahead of even death and spiders! Source: The national social anxiety center.

Combine that fear with endless hours online and we have ourselves a recipe for anxiety and fear at worst or boredom and weariness at best.

Facilitating and public speaking doesn’t have to inspire fear though. Conversely, they can (and should) inspire engagement, fun, interactivity, and powerful learning. And I’ll let you in on a little secret: both skills can easily be learned. Here’s how.

In this free workshop on August 19th, with me, Lee-Anne Ragan you’ll:

Learn three simple tips for facilitating and teaching online:

Figure out how a shower hook can make you look like a star
Learn how to design a powerful and inclusive workshop for your S.A.K.E.© and the S.A.K.E.© of your participants
Discover which way you lean into learning and how to ensure your preference doesn’t get in the way of inclusive facilitation

Learn four easy ways to be a powerful public speaker:

The nothing short of miraculous three roles water plays in public speaking
What wonder woman and starfish have in common and how you can use them to counteract your nervousness for public speaking anytime and anywhere
The most powerful and overlooked tool in public speaking that is hidden right under your nose
Why the letter M needs to be given the boot for effective public speaking

Laugh – have a great time and come away feeling inspired, relaxed, and re-energized with a toolkit full of strategies and tools for you to implement
Lead – put your learning into practice with some tips for after the Roundtable is done
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP by August 17th. Then watch your inbox for your agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

8-10 am Mexico
11 am-1 pm Rio
9-11 am Montreal/New York
5-7 pm Nairobi
6-8 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above.
Take action now –> Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources (including recordings of the Learning and Development Roundtables in case you can’t make it). And RSVP by August 17th

Learning and Development Roundtable: Discover your E.S.C.A.P.E. plan - Six Skills for Creative Problem Solving
2021-05-21 10:00 - 12:00
Are you a victim of what I call the Covid creativity cloud? Here are some of the symptoms. See if you recognize any in yourself:

An issue that would normally not cause you stress, is making you bang your head against the wall, and making any progress feel blocked.
You’re going around and around in circles, trying to squeeze out some creativity on a particular project but your beleaguered brain cells are protesting.
You want to be playful and amp up your creativity but you … just ….. can’t…..right….now.
You’re facing a problem or a challenge and instead of finding alternatives, you’re finding yourself doing more of whatever hasn’t been working so far.
You know you have a deep well of creativity within you but it’s been hidden by said cloud.

The Covid creativity cloud is that feeling when the clouds gather and obscure your way forward. The Covid creativity cloud tends to come just when demands and expectations are high and our resources, time and energy are low.

The Covid cloud is playing havoc with our creativity.

We’re overwhelmed and that leads to foggy thinking which leads to more stress.

Stress is a well-known creativity killer, says psychologist Robert Epstein, PhD. Time constraints are another, he says.

Help is on the way.

Despite the widely held belief that some people just aren’t endowed with the creativity gene, “There’s not really any evidence that one person is inherently more creative than another,” Dr. Epstein says.

Creativity, especially and even during Covid cloud, can be (re)harnessed and taught. Come to this playful, interactive workshop and learn six skills for creative problem solving.

In this free workshop with me, Lee-Anne Ragan you’ll:

Learn my six point E.S.C.A.P.E.© plan that includes six new skills for amping up your creativity
Laugh together as we have fun exploring creativity skills through some simple, engaging creativity exercises
Explore and experiment – bring an issue or a challenge you’re facing so you can apply your newfound skills right away
Lead – put your learning into practice with some tips for after the Roundtable is done
Come away feeling inspired, relaxed and re-energized with a toolkit full of strategies and tools for you to implement
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP by May 19th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.
Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request.

7 am to 9 am London
10 am to noon Nairobi
4 pm to 6 pm Fukuoka
11 am to 1 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above.
Take action now –> Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources. And RSVP by May 19th.

Learning and Development Roundtable: From overwhelmed to organized: Simple tech tools for ease and efficiency April 2021
2021-04-15 17:00 - 19:00
Technology can be a huge time suck. Who hasn’t disappeared down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos, Pinterest boards, and/or TikTok videos only to emerge sleepy eyed and aghast at the hours that have mysteriously evaporated.

Technology can be incredibly, extraordinarily, hair-raisingly frustrating – enough to make a colourful array of curse words fly out of your mouth all the while you’re restraining yourself from throwing your computer out the window.

You’re not alone. Eighty percent of people experience at least one technology related frustration every day, with 30% of folks experience five or more tech frustrations daily. That’s a whole lot of frustration and a whole lot of wasted time.

From sketchy Wi-Fi, lost passwords, and computer crashes to apps not working, incessant, distracting notifications and not being able to collaborate or find your digital resources, there’s a well documented, litany of very justifiable complaints.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Imagine for a moment, if you could easily and effortlessly find your digital resources, keep track of your to do’s and projects without requiring a PhD, and have some Simple and Easy (yes, with a capital S and E) tools to reduce your overwhelm, and amp up your ease and efficiency.

Sound like a pipe dream? I assure you it’s not.

Join me for a fun, interactive workshop where I’ll introduce you to a simple, effective process for identifying your tech pain points, a four point plan to ensure your success and a map to move you forward with your tech journey, all the while experimenting with some new tools .

In this free workshop with me, Lee-Anne Ragan you’ll:

Learn how to identify and prioritize your tech pain points by rewriting Einstein’s theory of relativity
Create your very own tech map – both your current map and where you’d like to journey to, using an editable worksheet template
Discover my four point plan for minimizing pain and ensuring your tech success
Uncover my top two tips for implementing what you’ve learned (they’re surprisingly easy)
Have fun exploring a bunch of simple, easy tools to show you that tech tools really can bring you ease and efficiency
Come away feeling inspired, hopeful and with a workbook full of strategies and tools for you to implement
Count the workshop towards your annual UN-Mandated training (If you’re a UN staff)

RSVP by April 13th. Then watch your inbox for our agenda and how to participate online.

Please note the dates and times alternate each month so as to reach more people in various time zones at their request. This month we’ll meet:

8-10 am Mexico
11 am-1 pm Rio
9-11 am Montreal/New York
5-7 pm Nairobi
6-8 pm Abu Dhabi

Click here to convert to your timezone if it’s not listed above.

Take action now –> Join the mailing list to receive invitations to the monthly meetings, and get access to all the meeting resources. And RSVP by April 13th.
